Democratic Governors warn the party …2020 can’t be just about Donald Trump….

Despite the media almost complete focus on every utterance of Donald Trump?

Voters going to the polls last month voted for those who could help them with improving their daily lives, not just against Trump’s rants and legal troubles….

Democratic governors now preside over a majority of the American people and vast change from the massive move to Republican after President Obama assumed office….

Democratic governors coming off their best election cycle in nearly 40 years say their victories in red and purple states this year show the party must offer ideas that go beyond opposition to President Trump in the upcoming presidential contest.

In interviews this weekend, both incumbent and incoming governors said their party has at times failed to communicate properly with middle-class voters, especially in Midwestern states critical to winning the White House, an implicit critique of the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.

They said candidates who won this year did so by focusing on local issues like roads and infrastructure, education and health care.

“The Democratic Party writ large has to stand for something more than being against Trump. That is so important, and I think governors lead on that,” said Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D), the newly elected chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association.

Democrats picked up seven governorships in last month’s midterm elections. The party won in blue states such as Illinois, Maine and New Mexico, swing states including Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin, and even in deep-red Kansas.

Once all newly elected governors are sworn in, Democrats will hold 23 executive offices around the country, states worth 283 votes in the electoral college….

I Served in Congress Longer Than Anyone. Here’s How to Fix It.Abolish the Senate and publicly fund elections.

The Atlantic Monthly
Dec 4, 2018

John D. Dingell
Represented Michigan in Congress for over 59 years

…. With my own eyes, I’ve watched in horror and increasing anger as that imbalance in power has become the primary cause of our national legislative paralysis. In primaries, the vocal rump of a minority of obnoxious asses can hold the entire country hostage to extremist views. This insanity has sent true public servants fleeing for the exits. The Electoral College has the same structural flaw. Along with 337 of my colleagues, I voted in 1969 to amend the Constitution to abolish it. Twice in the past 18 years, we’ve seen the loser of the popular vote become president through the Electoral College formula, which gives that same disproportionate weight to small states, each of which gets two automatic votes for its two senators.

My friend Norm Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, sees a demographic shift coming that will effectively transform us into two countries. He tells me that “in 2050, 70 percent of Americans will be living in just 15 states. That 70 percent will then have 30 senators, and the remaining 30 percent of the people, mainly those living in the smallest and poorest states, will have 70 senators.”

How do we fix this? Practically speaking, it will be very difficult, given the specific constitutional protection granted these small states to veto any threat to their outsize influence….